diner – Page 4 – Tasty Burgers

The Whippoorwill

Published on January 1, 2014 by Michael Nusair2 Comments

Location: 1285 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Website: http://www.thewhippoorwill.com/

NOW Toronto recently called the burger from the Whippoorwill the best burger for over ten dollars in the city; it wasn’t even on my radar before that proclamation, but obviously once you make a statement like that I’m pretty much obligated to check the place out.

I showed up at around noon on a Saturday and the place was packed, so they’re obviously doing pretty well.

My dining companion ordered the burger as well, because how can you not order a burger that’s been called the best in the city by a reputable source (even if it is by popular vote, which can sometimes result in questionable results)? You have to. You have no choice.

The Whippoorwill Burger, as per their menu: “ground prime beef, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, Russian dressing, on a buttered bun.”

The waitress (the spitting image of Mila Kunis, I should note) asked if medium was okay for the patty; I prefer medium rare, but if I’m reviewing a burger, I’ll take it however the restaurant wants to serve it. Anyway, medium is certainly better than the ubiquitous well done, so I’m not complaining.

The burger was quite good, that’s for sure, but best in the city? That’s questionable. For one thing, it was a bit dry. The pinker part in the middle was reasonably juicy, but closer to the gray, well done edges, it became lamentably dry. It’s a thick patty, and the edges required a bit more chewing power than I’d typically like to expend on a hamburger.

I also don’t think the quality of the beef was high enough for this to be considered as a truly top-shelf hamburger. It was good, don’t get me wrong, but it lacked that satisifyingly beefy bite that you get from really good quality meat.

It probably doesn’t help that there’s a little bit too much going on, flavour-wise. Specifically, the assertively-spiced Russian dressing is completely overpowering, and pretty much punches all of the hamburger’s other flavours in the face. It’s the star of the show when it should clearly be a supporting player. Another supporting player muscling its way to the front of the stage: the sharp cheddar cheese. Though it was perfectly melted, it’s probably not the best choice for a hamburger.

I never thought I’d say this, but the bun was too buttery. Normally I love a buttered bun on a hamburger, but this one was greasy and soaked through with the stuff. Even with all the other flavours, the butter taste was pronounced and a tad overbearing.

It was brunch, so instead of the usual fries the burger came with home fries. They were deep fried with a delightfully crispy exterior. The inside, however, was overcooked; it was crumbly and dry, and borderline inedible without the provided ketchup to lubricate things.

I should probably note that they clearly have consistency issues, so your mileage may vary. My burger came haphazardly assembled, with the components falling out and everything askew. My dining companion, on the other hand, got a picture perfect burger and was raving about how juicy and delicious it was, so who knows. Maybe I got a bad one.

Wallace & Co.

Published on July 1, 2013 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Location: 299 Wallace Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://www.facebook.com/299WALLACE

I was browsing blogTO the other day when I saw, among their most recent reviews, a picture of a big, fat burger. I read up to “a fat ball of chuck is griddle-fried” and I was gone so fast that I’m pretty sure I left a dust outline where I was sitting.

The small restaurant has a sketchy, old-school diner vibe, with minimalist decor and a griddle — manned by a row of scruffy, bearded chefs — behind the counter.

I scanned the menu too late to notice that they make their own homemade sodas; I had already ordered a plain old ginger ale like a chump. Dear Wallace & Co. waitstaff: a little heads-up about this would be nice.

Of course, being here to review the burger, I went straight for the Dirty Burg, which comes topped with “cheddar, house bacon, fried onion, coleslaw, BBQ aioli, yellow mustard.” No, they aren’t shy with the toppings; not surprisingly, there is way, way too much going on here. The vinegary coleslaw and mustard in particular completely dominate the hamburger’s flavour profile.

All the other toppings are fine, but the strong vinegary bite of the coleslaw and the mustard make it pretty much impossible to discern too many other flavours.

The beef, however, helps to mask most of the hamburger’s shortcomings. A fairly substantial patty of fatty, wonderfully juicy beef that is nicely griddled and not overcooked makes me all-too-happy to suffer through an over-condimented hamburger. Though it’s not the beefiest meat I’ve ever had (in fact it has a disappointingly mild beefy flavour — which, of course, I was only able to discern in the few mouthfuls I got of the beef alone), it still had a decent enough taste. And man, it was so juicy.

Seriously: ask for extra napkins. It’s a saucy, juicy mess of a hamburger that fully justifies its Dirty Burger moniker. Between the fatty, loosely packed patty and the quickly disintegrating bun, it was a race against time for me to be able to finish this with my hands and not have to pick up a fork and knife.

And though the soft, fresh brioche bun had a bit of a hard time holding up to the burger and all of the toppings, it was still pretty great and definitely an above average hamburger bun. With a burger this messy, even the hardiest of buns would struggle to maintain its structural integrity, so it’s hard to fault the bun in this case.

As for the fries, they were crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside; they don’t come with the hamburger, but they are definitely worth ordering.

Zet’s Restaurant

Published on March 10, 2013 by Michael Nusair2 Comments

Location: 6445 Airport Road, Mississauga
Website: http://www.zets.ca/

Zet’s is in a bit of an odd location (it’s close enough to Pearson to see the planes take off), but having heard a few good things about their burger, I knew that at some point I’d have to check it off the list.

It’s an endearingly run-down Greek diner that serves stuff like soulvaki and gyro, along with burgers and other diner stand-bys.

I walked in at around one on a Saturday afternoon and was happy to note that the place was absolutely packed, with a line going all the way back to the door; crowds this deep are generally a harbinger of good things to come. Generally.

The menu is on the wall above the grill. Noting an eponymous burger on the menu, I ordered that, along with a side of fries. A few minutes later I was asked what I wanted from the toppings behind the glass (I went with tomatoes, pickle, and mayo) and I was ready to go.

The Zet burger is a double with cheese and bacon, and with two fairly large patties, it’s not kidding around. Clearly, it is not for the weak of appetite.

The patties are frozen and industrially produced. If you are seeking a hamburger worth going out of your way for, turn back now. These are not the droids you’re looking for.

It is, however, a better-than-average frozen burger. It wasn’t nearly as rubbery and hot dog-esque as some frozen burgers tend to be, nor was it as funky and off-tasting as some others. Basically, it was pretty much as good as it gets when it comes to freezer-born burgers — but that is a very low water-mark indeed.

It still, of course, had that generically salty “this is meat?” flavour and hot doggy texture, but to a lesser degree than pretty much any other frozen burger that I’ve had. It was also nicely grilled, with the gooey mild cheddar and thickly-cut, smoky bacon doing their best to hide the patty’s deficiencies. It was probably the most I’ve enjoyed a frozen burger in quite a while, so props must go to Zet’s for successfully putting lipstick on a pig.

The other toppings were fine, as was the soft, fresh bun. It’s actually pretty sad that Zet’s isn’t working with better patties; their technique is obviously pretty great, so if they were starting with better quality meat, they could be serving something special. Oh well.

The fries, too, made me want to give Zet’s a pass. Crispy on the outside and pleasingly creamy on the inside, they were absolutely outstanding. Again, you can’t make fries this good unless you really know what you’re doing, so what’s the deal with the frozen burgers, Zet’s? What’s the deal?

Frankie’s

Published on September 23, 2012 by Michael Nusair7 Comments

Location: 994 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: None

Frankie’s has apparently been around for 35 years. I say apparently because I had never heard of it before a few weeks ago, and it certainly appears to be a new restaurant. However, a review at blogTO (which is, oddly, the only thing that pops up when you Google this joint outside of sites like Yelp and Urbanspoon) claims that it is a years-old neighbourhood standby. Okay, if you say so, blogTO. I should really make some calls and do some research, but that sounds like a lot of work. What do I look like, a journalist?

Anyway, a place this mediocre really isn’t worth that much thought or effort. The restaurant’s sign hilariously proclaims that these are the “world’s best burgers.” They’re not even Queen Street’s best burgers.

The menu offers two different types of hamburgers: the Frankie’s Original, which the menu describes as having “100% Canadian beef and Frankie’s secret spices,” and the specialty burgers, advertised as being eight ounce burgers made from “Canadian chuck.”

I found it very odd that they advertised the cut of beef that went into the specialty burgers and not the Frankie’s Original, and I was leaning towards getting a specialty burger over the who-knows-what’s-in-it Frankie’s Original; however, the specialty burgers were all so condiment and topping-heavy that I thought I’d never even be able to taste the beef. So I went with a Frankie’s Original topped with my usual selections (pickles, tomato, and mayo).

A note about the restaurant itself, which is waitress service, so you’ll be sitting there a while: they have TVs on with the volume up. This isn’t a problem. They also have a working jukebox. This is a problem. I have no problem with a jukebox in theory, but when you’ve got the music coming from the jukebox on one side, and the noise coming from the TV on the other, it can get a bit cacophonous. A note to the owners of Frankie’s: please pick one or the other.

The service was relatively fast, at least. The hamburger is, as advertised, a meatloaf burger — though it is thankfully not too strongly seasoned. This allowed the flavour of the beef itself to come through, which, in this case, wasn’t necessarily a good thing. The beef had a fairly typical low-quality beef flavour: vaguely funky, and somewhat unpleasant. Though I’ve had worse, it certainly wasn’t anything I’d want to have again.

The patty also had an oddly mushy texture despite being cooked to well done; I’m thinking that the meat had been too finely ground, and perhaps even had a filler of some sort.

As for the toppings, the pickles were fine, but the tomatoes were mealy enough to warrant removal from my hamburger, and the mayo was not mayo. It was either Miracle Whip or some house-made concoction; it was cloyingly sweet and completely overwhelming. I scraped off as much as I could from the bun and the patty.

The fries were okay, but they were a little bit soggy and very greasy, with a stale oil flavour. It’s likely that they’re using oil that is not quite hot enough, and that needs to be changed.

BQM Diner

Published on April 2, 2012June 25, 2012 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Website: http://www.bqmburger.com/
Location: 354 Queen Street West, Toronto

When a burger joint’s menu proudly advertises the fact that all of their burgers have less than 10 percent fat, I’m immediately on my guard. A burger should strive to be many things; low fat is not one of them. It is a universally accepted fact that a good burger needs a bare minimum of 15 percent fat; a preferable number is anywhere between 20 and 30 percent. This is where a burger’s juciness comes from. So if you’re advertising low fat burgers, you’re pretty much just coming out and admitting that you serve dry hamburgers. Not a good sign.

The BQM Diner is a small-ish restaurant, with almost comically small booths. Seriously, the booth was probably the smallest one I’ve ever sat in; I’m pretty sure I could have head-butted my dining companion without having to lean forward all that much.

The menu, oddly, offers three different cuts of beef: chuck, brisket, or sirloin. Sirloin is a definite no-go; though there is the perception that sirloin is a “fancy” cut of beef, thus making it more desirable, it is actually quite lean and a terrible choice for a burger. It may work well as a steak, but a burger is a different beast altogether.

I was leaning towards the brisket, because it is the fattiest cut, and I was concerned by the menu’s 10 percent fat boast. However, the waitress came by and rendered it all moot — all they had left was the chuck. It seemed odd that they were already out of 2/3rds of the menu, given that it was lunchtime and early in the day, but since chuck is a fairly standard cut of beef for a burger, I wasn’t too perturbed.

I ordered the BQM, labeled as “the Boss’ favourite,” which comes topped with caramelized onion, horseradish, garlic aioli, lettuce, and tomato. The waitress asked if I wanted it medium or medium-well. It’s always a good sign when you get asked how you want your burger cooked; I asked for mine medium.

The burger came, and it was immediately apparent that it was a little overcharred on the grill — it was pretty much completely blackened, giving it a strong smoky flavour that did overwhelm the beef a bit.

The burger actually was fairly juicy; it helped that it wasn’t cooked to well done like at most places (the burger actually came out much closer to medium rare than to medium), but I would be very surprised if this burger truly only contained 10 percent fat. I suspect that the 10 percent fat claim only really applies to the sirloin burger.

Though its flavour was a bit obscured by the liberal amount of charring on the burger and by the horseradish, it was still pretty clear that this was an above average burger, with a nicely beefy flavour. The toppings generally suited the burger fairly well, though the aforementioned horseradish was probably unnecessary. I’m generally not a fan of assertive flavours like horseradish on a burger, because they tend to overpower the taste of what is supposed to be the star of the show: the patty. It is a shame to disguise that flavour, especially when you’re dealing with good quality beef like they’re clearly using here.

I also got the fries on the side, and though they were a bit on the soggy side, they were obviously freshly cut and quite tasty.